Monthly Archives: April 2013

[04/29/13] The U.S. government expects to pay down debt in the current quarter for the first time in six years, the Treasury Department said on Monday, citing stronger-than-expected revenues.
It said it would pay down $35 billion in net marketable debt in the April-June quarter, and would likely end the quarter with a cash balance of $75 billion. In February, it estimated that it would need to borrow $103 billion, even as it projected a smaller end-of-quarter cash balance.
It is the first retirement of government debt since a $145 billion paydown in the April-June 2007 quarter.
The Treasury also said it expects to issue $223 billion in net...

[04/24/13] Demand for durable goods slumped in March by the most in seven months, adding to signs manufacturing in the U.S. cooled at the end of the first quarter.
Bookings for merchandise meant to last at least three years fell 5.7 percent after a revised 4.3 percent gain the prior month that was smaller than previously estimated, the Commerce Department reported today in Washington. The less-volatile category that excludes transportation equipment unexpectedly dropped for a second month.
Companies such as Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) are feeling the pinch as customers rein in spending on equipment and inventories on concern that across-the-board federal budget cuts and slower growth overseas will restrain the world’s largest economy. At the...

[04/19/13] First-quarter total of $507.6 million is the lowest amount raised since the second quarter of 2009 and underscores the venture-capital industry's struggles nationwide.
Southern California is a hotbed of young and innovative companies, but you wouldn't know it by following the money.

Venture capital funding, the lifeblood of start-ups, has fallen sharply in the region this year, according to a report released Thursday.
Southern California companies raised $507.6 million from venture-capital investors in the first three months of the year, a 42% decline from the nearly $880 million in the first quarter of 2012. The data were compiled by Dow Jones VentureSource.
It's the lowest total for any period...

[04/18/13] The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, which could further allay fears of a major setback in the labor market recovery.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 352,000 the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week's number was revised to show 2,000
more applications than previously reported.
A Labor Department analyst said claims for California and Kentucky had been estimated.
Despite the increase last week, which was broadly in line with economists' expectations, claims held near a level economists normally associate with average monthly job gains of
more than 150,000.
That could help to further ease concerns...

[04/16/13] New-home construction in the U.S. climbed in March to the highest level in almost five years, propelled by a surge in multifamily building that will support economic growth.
Starts (NHSPSTOT) climbed 7 percent to a 1.04 million annual rate, the most since June 2008, from a revised 968,000 pace in February that was larger than previously reported, according to Commerce Department figures issued today in Washington. Other reports showed consumer prices unexpectedly dropped last month and factory production cooled.
Near record-low mortgage rates and pent-up demand for rental units will keep residential construction a pillar of the expansion as concern grows that mandated cuts in planned federal spending will slow...

[04/05/13] U.S. employers created an anemic number of new jobs in March -- 88,000 -- the weakest job gain in nine months and less than half of what economists had expected as evidence mounts that the nation’s positive economic momentum is slowing.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ estimate, which is subject to revisions as more data comes in, attributed the disappointing report to a decline in both manufacturing and retail employment.
The nation’s unemployment rate fell to 7.6 percent from 7.7 percent, but only because 496,000 Americans stopped looking for work. Economists polled by Reuters had expected about 200,000 new payroll jobs in March and that the unemployment...

[04/03/13] Orders placed with U.S. factories increased in February, boosted by a pickup in demand for motor vehicles and commercial aircraft.
The 3 percent gain in bookings, the biggest in five months, followed a revised 1 percent decline in January, a Commerce Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 64 economists in a Bloomberg survey called for a 2.9 percent rise. The advance was led by a 5.6 percent surge in demand for durable goods that was little changed from the 5.7 percent estimate issued last week.
Auto sales that are on pace for the best year since 2007 and gains in home construction are helping drive sales and orders...